Home Sweet Home
by misco
Summary: A little Season 6 British adventure.........


Title: Home Sweet Home part 1  
  
Summary: A little British adventure.  
  
Author: LittleDarling  
  
Setting: Season six set before Hells Bells and after Older and Far Away, this piece is kind of instead of As You Were. (Because of my loathing of Mr. Finn) (  
  
Pairing: Not really about a specific pairing but it does have S/B, T/W, X/A in it, and all the usual ones.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: All characters, locale and other Joss-worthy inventions are property of Mutant Enemy, Fox, WB, UPN and many other very lucky people, I just like to play with them sometimes. No copyright infringement intended.  
  
Dedications: Tickle a.k.a she-of-the-many-names (I love ya), Sarah (my psychic twin) and Kate (my inspiration)  
  
Part 1: Different Destinations  
  
"School time Dawn", shouted Buffy up the stairs as the doorbell rang. When she opened the door she saw it was Xander wearing his blue and brown work overalls, as she knew he would be. His short brown hair was messed up and he looked very cheerful. He was carrying a small, strange looking, carved wooden box with an ornate silver lock and a clear plastic bag filled with an assortment of coloured powders.  
  
"I'm sorry we don't want your wares", she said playfully and made to shut the door again.  
  
"What wares?" asked a voice behind Buffy startling her. Willow poked her head over Buffy's shoulder to try and get a better view of who was outside the door.  
  
"Xander!", she cried and flung open the door, however before he walked inside she grabbed the box and bag off him, "Thanks for bringing these round, Tara will be so pleased."  
  
Slightly taken aback Xander asked, "What do you need them for anyway? Have you and Tara made up? I thought you were staying off the magics. All Anya told me was that you were conjuring up some mega magical mojo and you needed the last of her finely crushed yet pleasantly aromatic Melatine Root from the Magic Box."  
  
"Recently Tara's been working on a relocation spell but something has been interfering with her energy and it's making her unfocused. She can't do magic safely when her powers are unstable so we need to find out what has been affecting her by using a revelation spell. The worrying thing is that it would have to be something or someone pretty powerful to disrupt the flow of the energy. If it turns out to be dangerous we might have quite a fight on our hands", explained Willow.  
  
Buffy sighed, "That's all we need," and stood aside to let Xander enter.  
  
Willow turned to walk up the stairs but crashed into Dawn who had just reached the bottom. The bag of powders hit the floor and burst into a puff of twinkling iridescent clouds although she still managed to keep hold of the box.  
  
"Pretty. What's the occasion?", she asked.  
  
Willow just stood there covered in multicoloured dust with her mouth open.  
  
"You just ruined three hours work!", accused Xander. "But it doesn't matter, I'm sure Anya can whip up another batch pronto. Some of that stuff is only imported from India, shouldn't take longer than. say.a few weeks!"  
  
"Oh, sorry I didn't mean to, it's just Buffy shouted me for school and you know she hates it when I'm late and I didn't see you in the rush. I'd help you clean up but I'm late as-"  
  
"It's okay Dawnie, the powder's not dangerous or anything in this form and it's just as much my fault, but I have to go tell Tara. She had early classes at the college and I haven't seen her since yesterday," reassured Willow. She dashed out of the door brushing the magic powder off her midnight blue dress as she ran.  
  
Dawn picked up her furry yellow lion schoolbag off the banister and slung it over her shoulder. She gestured to Xander that she was ready to go and he went outside to wait in the car.  
  
"I hope those two get back together soon, things just aren't right without Tara around. See you tonight Buffy, or tomorrow if you have to patrol", Dawn said and kissed her on the cheek.  
  
"Well, these things take time, relationships are complicated, sometimes people make mistakes. and you're not going to school dressed like that!" said Buffy looking her up and down. She wore a tight red leather top with the front zip barely closed and a very short tight denim skirt with a slit up to the top of her thigh. Her eyes were heavily made up with black kohl eyeliner and she had black leather boots on with a four-inch heel.  
  
"Sorry, no time to change", replied Dawn and ran out of the house as fast as her shoes would allow her to, slamming the door behind her.  
  
Buffy cast a glance around the hallway of her now empty house. Every visible surface and carpet were coated in a fine layer of vibrant shimmering powder. She sighed a deep sigh of frustration and headed towards the kitchen to find a cloth.  
  
"Hello love", said Spike as he appeared from behind the doorframe, startling Buffy. He was wearing his purple shirt and black jeans with the customary scuffed black duster.  
  
"What do you want.cos' if it's sex your not getting any. I'm too busy", she asked.  
  
"Oh yeah, because dustings so urgent.the whole house might collapse if you don't do it.....oh, wait that was us!", he smirked.  
  
"You're a pig, Spike."  
  
"Yeah maybe, but you're the one who-"  
  
"Get out, I don't have time for this."  
  
"Whatever you say Slayer, but I'll be waiting", he warned and strode out of the kitchen door. into the bright sunshine. The burning shafts of light set his peroxide blonde hair and the shoulders of his coat on fire.  
  
"Bloody hell!", he shouted and made a wild dash for the safety of the house.  
  
"In your dreams, Spike!", yelled Buffy throwing the brown blanket at him, that he always left there in case of emergencies and slammed the door in his face.  
  
****************************  
  
Tara glanced over at the group of girls who were sitting in the corner of her Psyche 101 class. They were discussing the bake-sale, which they were organising to raise money for their club. It was supposed to be a Wicca group but they had no idea that magic existed and spent most meetings talking about raising money and boys. It was a nice thing to do but not really Tara's scene so she let her attention drift back to the boring T.A who was attempting to take the lesson but making a terrible mess of things. Tara knew she could have done a better job but she was not really the out- spoken type so she kept quiet. Her Psychology classes had never really been the same since Professor Walsh died and although she had been evil, Tara still believed she had some good points, and teaching was one of them. Unfortunately Willow didn't agree and had given up Psyche as soon as the new term started because she said it weirded her out. Buffy of course had been refused re-admission and although she carried on with the subject after the Initiative mess, the bad luck of dying had ruined her chances of re-entering the college.  
  
Suddenly she noticed Willow gesturing wildly through the window for her to come outside. She packed up her books and quietly left the room, much to her relief, and she realised she had been looking for an excuse to leave all lesson.  
  
******************************  
  
"So who are you asking to the Spring Fling.no wait....let me guess. His name begins with a B and ends in an N, he has blond hair and the bitch of Sunnydale High is his twin sister. Am I getting warm?" asked the petite girl with long silky sunshine blonde hair and a face which bore a stunningly uncanny resemblance to Dawn's older sister.  
  
Dawn glanced at Lucy, one of her best friends after Janice who at the moment was visiting relatives in Aspen for two months.  
  
"I'm not asking anybody, especially not Brandon ".  
  
"Wimp."  
  
"Maybe so but I-"  
  
Her teacher Mrs Morgan suddenly interrupted her, "Alright class, I want you to close your books and listen carefully. Due to the recent spate of crimes which have occurred in this area, anybody under the age of 16 must be accompanied by a chaperone to the dance next Saturday." A chorus of groans drowned out the end of her speech.  
  
"Oh brilliant, I have the choice of my mom or big brother", moaned Lucy, "How about you?"  
  
"I don't mind actually, it might be fun hanging out with Buffy or Willow or someone without there being something icky and evil involved.." Dawn mused more to herself than to her friend.  
  
"Huh?", asked Lucy who had no idea about Dawn's supernatural friends and family.  
  
"Oh I just mean ..that.erm.erm.."stammered Dawn trying to think of a verifiable explanation. Looking wildly around the room for inspiration, her eyes fell on her current crush Brandon who was sitting just a table away from her. She took a deep breath and catching his attention garbled, "WouldyouliketocometotheSpringFlingwithmeonSaturday", and promptly turned bright red. Lucy was so shocked she forgot all about Dawn's earlier comment and waited with bated breath for Brandon's answer. After a pause he nodded slightly in her direction with a lop-sided smile and turned back to his friends.  
  
************************************  
  
The hot sunshine of midday was burning the back of her neck and the loud hum of the lawnmower was beginning to annoy her so Buffy killed the motor and went to the kitchen for a drink. The air inside the house was refreshingly cool compared to the heat of the warm Californian day outside. She poured a glass of water and was in the process of drinking it when she felt a cold hand slide it's way down the top of her leg, the air around her was filled with the heavy scent of smoke, leather and the uniquely sexy aroma that only one man she knew smelled of. Hand trembling slightly she placed her glass in the sink and brought her hands up behind her to caress the soft curls at the back of Spike's head. He began to gently kiss her neck whilst slowly encircling her waist with his arms. Buffy turned around in his embrace so she was facing him, his smouldering blue eyes burned into hers for a long moment. Moist lips slightly parted she brought them up to meet Spike's in a long sensual kiss, he felt his body temperature rise a few degrees as her warmth flowed into him. Finally they broke apart with only their fingers still entwined and Buffy spoke shattering the spell that had grown between them.  
  
"Why are you here?", she asked hesitantly as if she didn't really want to know the answer.  
  
Spike gave her a small smile and replied, " Word on the street is one of your old buddies is brewing up some powerful magic that's affecting some of the more supernatural people in town. He's working for a group of demons on a spell, which is very powerful, very dangerous and above all very apocalypsy, if something should happen to go wrong. And with his reputation that's definitely likely to happen"  
  
Buffy's brow crinkled in a small frown as she tried to ascertain just who her 'old buddy' might be. Spike grinned as he noticed her confusion. Then putting her out of her misery:  
  
"Ethan Rayne."  
  
Sighing she let go of his hands and began to pace the living room, he turned around to watch her. She raked a hand through her golden hair then let it fall to her side.  
  
Turning to look at him she asked, "Does anybody else know about this? Willow? Or Giles?"  
  
"No," he replied, " I only just found out about it myself last night. I was down at Willy's bar and I noticed a couple of out-of-towners. Figured they might know of any big vampire massacres that have occurred lately.."  
  
"There's been a massacre?"  
  
"What.? No I just like to keep up with things in the demon world. I mean I can't do it myself so I might as well enjoy someone else's mess," he leered at her.  
  
"Urrggghh, you disgust me Spike, remind me again why I'm talking to you," Buffy scowled.  
  
He smirked and tapped her on the nose, "Cos' you need info on the new big bad in town and once again I'm the only one out of your simpering group of moronic friends who knows anything!"  
  
She scowled harder and pushed him away from her. He laughed and sat down in a chair, lighting up a cigarette in the process.  
  
****************************  
  
"So, what are we going to do now? Without the crushed Melatine root I can't attempt the revelation spell and the longer we wait the weaker my powers get," Tara worried as she stirred the froth on top of her double mocha.  
  
"We'll just have to hope Anya's supplier can get the root here soon and if not then we'll just have to deal with whatever comes and use good old fashioned sleuthing to find out what's happening,' Willow replied optimistically resting her hand on Tara's, who shifted uncomfortably in her chair and moved her hand away.  
  
"Look, Willow, I don't think this is the right time for us to be th- thinking about our problems", Tara warned.  
  
"But I've been doing much better, I haven't done a spell since.well.y'know," replied Willow blushing slightly and starting to babble, "and now we all need each other if we're going to defeat this new magical interferencey person and there's still the nerds we have to deal with. Everybody misses having you around, especially Dawn. Why don't you come back and live at Buffy's house, we don't have to have the same room, I'll share with Dawn or Buffy and you can keep the old one? You'll be so much safer if you're back where you belong.....with the gang."  
  
"No!" Tara said shaking her head, "You mean back with you, and I can't take that risk right now. Wait a while longer. If you still haven't used magic then I'll consider it but until then I think we need this time apart. If anything happens and you or the others need my help, then you know I'll be there, but I'm not rushing back into this relationship just to watch you go off the rails again!"  
  
"We wouldn't be rushing into anything and I'm not going off the 'rails'!" Willow cried standing up abruptly then in a small voice she asked, "Don't you trust me?"  
  
"Oh sweetie, I want to but.", Tara trailed off as Willow rushed out of the Espresso Pump.  
  
***************************  
  
Buffy continued to pace up and down the living room ranting about the misdeeds of Ethan Rayne and describing what she would do to him when she found him.  
  
"Well all those threats sound very nice pet, but you might find them a little hard to carry out, seeing as your Watcher's old chum is currently in England," Spike explained.  
  
"But I thought you said he was in town?" Buffy asked beginning to lose her patience with him.  
  
"No, I said his spell could be affecting the magic users in town, like your witch friends...but he's not actually here."  
  
"Hang on, Willow said something about Tara's energy not being stable, could that be what Ethan's trying to do, disrupt other witches? But what would be the point?" Buffy wondered aloud.  
  
"That isn't what his main purpose is, it's just a side effect. Like I told you he's messing with the dark mojo here, darker than he even knows as far as I can tell. I mean, if the witchcraft he's weaving has side effects that reach as far as America from good old Blighty then what kind of consequences do you think there'll be once his main power kicks in?"  
  
Buffy stared at Spike as she realised the implication of his words and then jumped into action, grabbing the phone from the sideboard and pressing the speed dial to Giles' home in Bath.  
  
"What are you doing. you stupid bint?" shouted Spike leaping up and grabbing the phone off her cutting the connection.  
  
"Hey.! I need to tell Giles, he's the closest one to Ethan at the moment so he needs to be told about the situation. Maybe he can find a counter-spell or something while I figure out what's going to happen here when I go to England."  
  
"If you tell him, he'll try to tackle him solo, only without your back-up he'll probably end up dead," Spike said softly putting the phone down and taking hold of her arm.  
  
"That's the last thing I need right now," Buffy sighed conceding Spike's point, "You lot will have to stay here and look after Dawn whilst I go to England, surprise Giles, deal with Ethan and somehow put things right again," then seeing the look in Spike's eye, "well, as right as they've ever been."  
  
**********************************  
  
As Dawn pushed open the front door she could hear a cacophony of voices in the living room. She hadn't been expecting the gang to come round tonight, but then again anything could have happened whilst she was at school and Lucy's house, this was the Hellmouth after all. She was just about to announce her presence when she heard her name mentioned. She stopped just out of view from the others and listened to Buffy and Willow argue.  
  
"What about Dawn?"  
  
"We won't have to tell her everything, just that I'm going to see Giles for a couple of days and deal with a few problems."  
  
"But what if you're gone for more than a couple of days and what if." Willow's voice trailed off as the room fell silent.  
  
Suddenly Anya spoke up, "I'm sorry. But if no-one else is going to say it. what if you die, how are we going to explain that to Dawn? How about 'your sister ran off to England, all alone, without our help and lied to you about Giles and got herself killed'. You have to tell her the truth Buffy. "  
  
"I'm not going to die, and if I tell Dawn she'll want to come with me and she can't, she has to stay at school," Buffy replied, "Anyway, come on, it's Ethan, he's hardly the Big League. I'll deal with him, say 'Hi' to Giles and come home."  
  
"That's all very well Buff," said Xander, "But you heard what Spike said. Now you know how much I value The Bleached Bloodsucker's opinion but even I know how dangerous this could be. Ethan's working for some pretty powerful demons by the sound of it and we don't know what we're up against."  
  
"Not 'we' Xander, 'me'", corrected Buffy, "I'm going alone."  
  
"No! You're not," argued Xander, "I'm going with you, the site can look after itself for a few days."  
  
"Xander." began Buffy trailing off as she realised it was pointless arguing, after all he'd never let her go alone before. Even when they'd only just met and Jesse had been kidnapped, he had followed her right into the Master's lair without a thought for the danger he was putting himself in.  
  
"Okay, it's settled then, Xander and I will go to England and you guys can stay here and take care of Dawn."  
  
Tara who had remained silent throughout the whole exchange raised her hand to catch the other's attention, "I think you might have a better chance of succeeding against these demons if you have somebody who can use magic with you.....plus I'd quite like to be able to do spells safely again."  
  
Buffy smiled at Tara, "Whoever said three was a crowd?"  
  
Willow stood up, avoiding Tara who was trying to catch her eye, "Buffy, I might not be able to use magic anymore but I must still be some use, I won't watch you and Xander walk into danger without me. We've been a team since the beginning and I don't want that to change now just because we're all grown up."  
  
Buffy nodded pulling her friend into a quick hug.  
  
"I'm not letting Xander leave without me," Anya blurted out, "If he's going to face terrible enemies in a country that never has sunshine and who's people spend their time eating meat pies and talking about the weather then I'm going to be right by his side. We might not be officially married yet but he feels like my husband and anyway the wedding's coming up and I can't get married if there isn't a groom!"  
  
Xander put his arm around her shoulders," Ahn honey, don't you want to stay here and look after the Magic Box, think of all the money you'll lose by staying closed."  
  
She turned to face him, "While money is a valuable part of my work and life, it's not as important to me as you. Besides I miss Giles and the shop won't suffer too much if I close it for a couple of days," she paused, "We are only going to be gone a couple of days, right?"  
  
Behind the doorframe, Dawn's eyes widened as she realised they were all going to go and leave her there alone. She rushed out and grabbed hold of her sister, "Buffy you can't leave me here, I don't care about school, and you said you were going at the weekend, so I would hardly miss any. Please let me come, everybody else is."  
  
Buffy released herself from her sister's tight grasp, "No Dawn, I can't guarantee when I'll be back and you need to stay in school, we don't want a repeat of last year do we? And since you've probably heard most of this conversation you know how dangerous it's going to be in England, you'll be much safer here."  
  
Dawn glared at the group seated around the living room, "Fine! At least this way I get the house to myself."  
  
"She's right Buffy, one of us will have to baby-sit, she can't stay here alone and there's no-one else," realised Xander.  
  
"I'm not a child!" Dawn muttered.  
  
Buffy thought for a moment, pacing the room as she did, "Spike...... She'll have to stay with Spike," then off Xander's look, "Well there's nobody else, unless you're willing to stay?" She glanced pointedly at him, he shook his head.  
  
"Don't I get a say in this?" Dawn asked angrily.  
  
"No," replied Buffy, "You like Spike and there's no other option. Deal with it," she turned to the rest of the group, "what are you all waiting for? We have tickets to book, bags to pack and a plane to catch. Let's meet back here in four hours that should give me enough time to drop Dawn off at Spike's and to get ready. Dawn go and grab everything you'll need for a week, just in case. Will, could you take care of the tickets and book the earliest flight available?"  
  
"Already on it," Willow told her as Dawn stomped upstairs.  
  
************************************  
  
Moonlight reflected off the wings of a grey marble angel and gloomy gravestones loomed as Buffy pulled Dawn along behind her. The grass in this part of the cemetery was longer and untidier than the surrounding area, Dawn supposed this was due to the fact that most of the people buried here had died more than a century earlier and there was nobody around to remember them. So the workers who tended to the other graveyards just didn't bother with this part since there was nobody here to notice, except for vampires and other creatures of the night she thought wryly.  
  
The sisters had walked the long way round to Spike's crypt because Buffy had wanted to do one last patrol before she left for England. She hadn't been particularly enthusiastic about taking Dawn with her but since time was of the essence she had relented for just this one time. Buffy had been planning to go alone and pick up Dawn on the way back but she had sunk into an even deeper funk, believing Buffy was only leaving her because she didn't want to spend any time with her. Buffy couldn't understand why Dawn didn't realise she was only trying to keep her safe. She sighed and turned to her sister, "Nothing seems to be stirring out here, let's hope it stays that way for a while. Come on, let's get you to Spike's."  
  
*************************************  
  
Buffy pushed open the door of the dark crypt, illuminated only by candlelight which cast long shadows on the gloomy walls. She moved over to the wooden ladder in the centre of the room and peered down into the blond vampire's domain.  
  
"Spike!!!" she yelled, but getting no response she decided to have a look below, gesturing for Dawn to follow, Buffy slowly made her way to the second part of Spike's 'home'. As she descended she could see that Spike really wasn't in, but carried on anyway. When she got to the bottom she hopped off and helped Dawn.  
  
The room was surprisingly warm for a crypt which housed a vampire, must be all the candles Dawn decided. As Buffy glanced around the room she remembered the awful little shrine to her he used to have in the corner of the room. She smiled as the memory came back of all the times she had blamed Dawn for taking her clothes when it had been Spike all along.  
  
"Slayer and the Bit! What can I do for you at this late hour?" asked Spike in an unusually cheery voice as he popped his head through the hole.  
  
The sisters jumped at his unexpected entrance, Buffy recovered first and whirled around to confront him.  
  
"Where have you been? Dawn and I have been waiting here for .at least a minute!"  
  
"What!" Spike asked, "Can't a bloke go out any more?"  
  
Buffy sighed and explained the situation to him. She was surprised when he quickly agreed to her plan, she had been expecting at least some sort of fight off him, after all he had always been very sensitive about 'going soft'.  
  
Buffy kneeled down next to her sister who was seated on Spike's only comfy chair and stroked the hair off her face, "I shouldn't be gone for longer than a week Dawnie. If you need anything.and I mean anything, ring me at Giles', and I'll come right back.okay?"  
  
Dawn nodded and hugged Buffy tightly, "Send me a postcard?"  
  
"Definitely," Buffy replied, "and if we're lucky I'll probably arrive back before it even gets here." She smiled and kissed Dawn on the cheek. Rising she climbed back up the ladder to leave the crypt, Spike followed her.  
  
When they reached the door Buffy turned to him, "If anything happens to Dawn whilst I'm gone, when I come back I'll have a stake with your name engraved on it. Got it?"  
  
"Aww pet, you don't have to get me a souvenir, I already know what I mean to you," he replied with a hint of bitterness.  
  
She looked at him for a moment, quickly kissed him on the lips then turned and walked away without saying a word.  
  
Spike closed the door and turned to see Dawn sitting in front of him, "What's up with you Niblet?"  
  
"I don't see why I have to stay here just because I'm younger. When they were my age they were out fighting vampires every night!" she raged.  
  
"Maybe so," Spike soothed, "But they didn't piss off to a different country, did they? Big Sis is only trying to protect you from the darkness she had to face. You have a choice, you can live a normal life. Buffy's only trying to give you what she never had."  
  
"Well, what if I choose the darkness." Dawn said. It wasn't a question.  
  
Spike knelt down in very much the same way Buffy had and stroked her hair, "Are you sure? Because once you've decided there's no going back."  
  
She swallowed nervously as she looked into his intense gaze, then slowly nodded.  
  
"Right then," Spike said gripping her by the shoulders and standing her up. "Are you ready?"  
  
(To be continued)  
  
Constructive criticism welcomed: misco11@hotmail.com This is my first Buffy Fic so any feedback will be much appreciated. ( 


End file.
